Operation Mincemeat

The True Spy Story that Changed the Course of World War II

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Operation Mincemeat

By: Ben Macintyre

Narrated by: Ben Macintyre

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Bloomsbury presents Operation Mincemeat written and read by Ben Macintyre.

THE SUNDAY TIMES NO 1. BESTSELLER

'Astonishing . . . Sheds riveting new light on this breathtaking plan' Daily Mail

'A rollicking read' Max Hastings, Sunday Times

'Brilliant and almost absurdly entertaining' Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker
____________________

April, 1943: a sardine fisherman spots the corpse of a British soldier floating in the sea off the coast of Spain and sets off a train of events that would change the course of the Second World War.

Operation Mincemeat was the most successful wartime deception ever attempted. It hoodwinked the Nazi espionage chiefs and saved thousands of lives by deploying a secret agent who was different from any spy before or since: he was dead. His mission: to convince the Germans that instead of attacking Sicily, the Allied armies planned to invade Greece.

The brainchild of an eccentric RAF officer and a brilliant Jewish barrister, the great hoax involved an extraordinary cast of characters including a famous forensic pathologist, a gold-prospector, an inventor, a beautiful secret service secretary, a submarine captain, three novelists, an irascible admiral who loved fly-fishing, and a dead Welsh tramp.

This is the true story of the most extraordinary deception ever planned by Churchill's spies: an outrageous lie that travelled from a Whitehall basement all the way to Hitler's desk.

Ben MacintyreBen MacintyreBloomsbury Publishing

20th Century

Espionage

Europe

Germany

Military

Modern

True Crime

Thought-Provoking

Exciting

Winston Churchill

War

20th Century Espionage Europe Germany Military Modern True Crime Thought-Provoking Exciting Winston Churchill War

Critic reviews

A rollicking read for all those who enjoy a spy story so fanciful that Ian Fleming - himself an officer in Montagu's wartime department - would never have dared to invent it (Max Hastings)

Ben Macintyre, also the author of the acclaimed Agent Zigzag, is fast becoming a one-man industry in these updated tales of cunning, bravery and skulduggery. With his mix of meticulous research and a good hack's eye for narrative, it is hard to think of a better guide to keep beckoning us back to that fascinating world

Macintyre has a journalist's nose for a great story, and a novelist's skill in its narration ... Even more spellbinding than his previous story of wartime espionage, Agent Zigzag, with a cast-list every bit as dotty and colourful ... Macintyre is a master of the thumbnail character sketch

With its fantastic plot and its cast of eccentric characters, the book reads like the most improbable of spy stories. It is a tribute to Macintyre's skill that we never for a moment forget that it is actually all true

Astonishing ... Sheds riveting new light on this breathtaking plan

Brilliant and almost absurdly entertaining (Malcolm Gladwell)

Most relevant

I had seen The Man Who Never Died Was and vaguely knew the story of Operation Mincemeat but there is endless fascination in so many aspects of this remarkable tale. MacIntyre does a terrific job of telling the story in his prose and his delivery. I wrap up in the story of Maj. Martin as we’re Montague and Chumley. Highly recommended.